recession

People along the St. Lawrence River love to watch and take photos of the huge freighters that move through the water every season. If you’ve been wondering what the ships are carrying this year, the answer is tons of rocks.

By rocks, we’re talking about literal boatloads of sand and stone that’ll be used as road fill to expand interstates in Wisconsin.

Ships are also on their way to Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Chicago carrying cement and steel for big construction booms there.

New York state finds itself with a five billion dollar surplus -- something that hasn't happened in a while. It's thanks in large part to bank settlements orchestrated by the office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

In a recent interview, Schneiderman said the money should be put in a special infrastructure fund. The attorney general says regions with economic problems hardest hit by the housing crash should be targeted to receive some of the funds.

A new report on the status of workers finds the period since the 2008 market crash may turn out to be a “lost decade” for New Yorkers, as wages stagnate and the average time for unemployment lengthens.

Upstate New York is having a hard time getting over the recession. Unemployment in upstate rose to 8.5 percent in August, close to one percentage point higher than during August 2011, according to a new report from the New York State Department of Labor. New York’s rate peaked above the national trend, and this month Governor Andrew Cuomo started an initiative to help address the issue.

Syracuse University announced this month that it has reached the $1 billion mark in its fundraising campaign, which was launched in 2005. University administrators had not expected that goal to be met until December 31 of this year. With the recession dogging the economy for the last four years, other universities have not been so successful in their fundraising efforts.

A report from the state comptroller finds local governments in New York are struggling financially. Around 10 percent are running deficits or suffering from cash flow problems, and there is no end in sight.